Rushanara Ali
MP for Bethnal Green and Stepney · Labour · United Kingdom
“Friend and I studied at the same secondary school and, as children and young people, along with our peers, benefited from learning about the battle of Cable Street and by visiting the memorial that she spoke about, which has inspired young people in the generations that came after as well as before us, and it continues to do so.”
“Friend, so I was able to meet many powerful advocates of the anti-racism movement, including two of my former constituents who are no longer with us. I pay tribute to their struggles and what they did.”
“I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Poplar and Limehouse (Apsana Begum) on securing this important Adjournment debate. She represented Cable Street until the last general election, and I am very proud to represent it now. She and I have much in common.”
“I hope that as we mark the 90th anniversary of the battle of Cable Street, we can all work together to redouble our efforts to build strong communities, cohesion and strong inter-faith relations, as well as relations with those with no faith, and recognise that the modern-day challenge of intolerance and hatred is even greater in some res…”
“They were two people who inspired me and supported me through my political career, along with many others in our community who told the story of the anti-racism movement and continued to work across communities. My hon. Friend spoke eloquently about that period and what happened afterwards.”
“I thank the Foreign Secretary for his incredibly moving and courageous statement. He has been a friend of Israelis and Palestinians. When he was Leader of the Opposition, he and the Labour party recognised Palestinian statehood, and I am proud of the fact that this Labour Government have recognised Palestinian statehood.”
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“We need to do these things in tandem, so that we do not end up with a false economy, where damage is done to the economy through protections and standards that then cost the taxpayer a significant amount. That would leave us in the worst of all worlds, and is surely something that all different parties want to avoid.”
“I asked the Minister about the primary and secondary objectives, and whether he sees any parallels in how these changes are thought of—I know this is about having due “regard to the desirability of promoting economic growth”. Does he think there is a parallel with the way that the competitive duty has been applied? There is a potential tension to be managed in how regulators think about the importance of sector regulation and the Government imperative to promote growth. When regulatory officials think about our priorities, they might err on one side or the other, and that tension could be a problem. Does he feel that more work is needed to emphasise how the measures are applied, so that consumers do not suffer while we try to promote growth?”
“If the Minister is not able to provide further answers today, could he provide them in writing? In conclusion, I thank the Minister for the work he has been doing and look forward to working with him to provide the necessary support to the post office sub-postmasters and their network to ensure that it is stabilised and gets the support it needs. The compensation programme is there to support victims as quickly as possible. I also look forward to working with him to ensure that Fujitsu is made to pay for what it is ultimately responsible for.”
“I raised it on Second Reading of the Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Bill, and my colleague Lord McNicol raised it in the Lords when this SI was debated. Based on previous Government responses, I think it is fair to say that the Government do intend to seek payments from Fujitsu, and we look forward to working with the Minister and his team to continue the pressure to make this happen as quickly as possible. However, we remain somewhat in the dark over how much progress has been made. It would be really helpful if the Minister outlined whether he has a timeline in mind for when payments will be made, how much progress has been made, and whether he requires cross-party support in getting the job done, with the total cost of compensation likely to be upwards of £1 billion.”
“As the Minister has sought the uplift in relation to the compensation programme, I would like briefly to turn to the specific issue of funding and his assurances about seeking to recover funds from Fujitsu, given its role in the Horizon scandal. As we all know, the tech giant’s faulty Horizon IT system is at the heart of the Horizon scandal. Its senior executives have already accepted moral responsibility, but it remains unclear what role it will have in the compensation process. As I think most Members will agree, it is only fair that Fujitsu at least contributes to the compensation funding, rather than leaving the British taxpayer to foot the entire bill. This is particularly pertinent given that Fujitsu has held Government contracts worth more than £3.4 billion since 2019. Many have raised this issue over the past weeks and months.”
“It is a wider point that has come up—I know he is doing a lot of thinking on this—about reform of the Post Office and tackling the wider sets of issues about institutional culture, the governance of the organisation and learning the lessons of what has been exposed through the Horizon scandal. Of course, there is much more work to do in following up the outcomes of the inquiry report. While we support the uplift, I hope that the Minister can address some of those questions. If he is not able to address all of them today, I hope that he will be able to do so subsequently. I would like to ask a few questions about Fujitsu.”
“That is a snapshot of impressions that I have received, but it would be useful to know what discussions the Minister is having with the broader organisation, as well as management, about how that uplift will be used, and to receive an assurance that the uplift is going to be used properly and effectively. The public will want to know that the uplift—the Minister may well be able to answer this right now—will not be used to provide bonuses and increase remuneration for people in senior management. As we have heard recently in the public domain and in the media, as well as in a Select Committee hearing in February, pay and remuneration issues have come up quite a lot. It would be helpful if the Minister can reassure us that this uplift is not about that. I hope that the Minister will accept the spirit of another point I want to make.”
“Should that uplift be used, does he have in mind the kind of amounts intended for the compensation scheme, the Horizon replacement scheme and the wider network? Will those allocations strike an appropriate balance in providing that? Will that be sufficient or will there be a need to provide further uplifts? The other issue that sub-postmasters have raised with me in discussions is a general concern about a bonus culture at the Post Office, as well as the wider culture at the senior management level and the tick-box attitude to sub-postmaster engagement.”
“That is not to say that the network of sub-postmasters, who have been doing such a phenomenal job around the country, is at issue. It is about management, leadership and many of the issues that have been exposed in the recent scandals, such as the removal of the chair and the other recent issues that have come through over the course of the inquiry hearings. That is what the public are hearing about regularly. It would be helpful if the Minister provided some assurances. He has mentioned compensation, and his answer to the right hon. Member for North West Cambridgeshire was helpful. Can he explain roughly what those allocations might be, perhaps later if he is not able to explain today?”
“As the Minister has laid out, the Government have pointed to the range of factors that risk breaching the current £500 million spending limit: the focus on the compensation for sub-postmasters relating to the Horizon scandal, the funding for the replacement of the Horizon IT system, and the ongoing financial demands to keep the branch network operating given the cost pressures and the economic climate. It is good to hear the Minister highlight the 6,000 rural branches. In discussions that I have had with sub-postmasters since I took on this position, it is very clear that there are huge pressures, and we have seen the closure of a number of post offices in different communities. I am sure the Minister will understand the unease many will feel about this uplift, given the recent scandals and the role of the Post Office in that context.”
“As the Minister has pointed out, the cap has been raised by the Government from £500 million to £750 million, and we do not oppose their reasons for doing so. I would, however, like to press the Minister on a few outstanding points. The annual limit on the Government’s Post Office funding stood at £160 million until 2011, when the cap was raised to £500 million, and has remained unchanged. We can see the rationale, given the context of what has happened recently, of increasing the cap to £750 million.”
“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Vaz. I thank the Minister for outlining the details and explaining why this statutory instrument has been brought to Parliament today. Since the exposure of the Horizon scandal, Labour Members have sought to work with the Government while applying the necessary scrutiny to ensure the most effective process for the wrongly accused sub-postmasters to receive the justice and compensation they deserve. We will continue to provide the necessary scrutiny and critique where necessary, both in the Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Bill as it continues to progress through Parliament, and this piece of secondary legislation. I hope the Minister will not have too many objections.”
“Despite the calls for a ceasefire here in our Parliament and from across the international community, the war in Gaza has raged, costing 33,000 lives as well as the 1,200 killed by the Hamas attacks and a humanitarian catastrophe that is now turning into a famine. For months many have raised concern around the spectre of regional escalation; precisely what conversations is the Prime Minister having with leading figures in the Israeli Government, as well as through various parties to influence the Iranian regime to de-escalate as quickly as possible given the seriousness of the crisis?”
“We welcome this crucial piece of legislation, but it is by no means anywhere close to an end point. It is merely a further step in the right direction in securing justice for the sub-postmasters. We support the work of the independent inquiry in uncovering the full and precise truth of all that has unfolded in the Post Office. Truth and justice has been denied to sub-postmasters at every turn, and I hope that the inquiry will finally provide the transparency that is desperately needed. There is much still to be done in the pursuit of justice for sub-postmasters, and we must all continue to support them and do all we can to right the many wrongs they have suffered.”
“Ms Misra and her husband had been trying for a baby for eight years and what should have been one of the happiest moments of their lives became a nightmare. She was put under suicide watch in prison and describes how she reached “rock bottom”. Those are only two stories of the horrors that have defined the lives of victims. Today, I thank colleagues from across the House for powerfully sharing the examples of the cases they have dealt with, be they those of constituents or cases they have come across through their campaigning work. I also thank colleagues for the tireless work they have done in advocating for those people, telling their stories, talking to Ministers and persisting. These people’s stories and voices must be central in shaping our next steps in the pursuit of their compensation, of justice and of their exoneration.”
“Katie Downey, who set up the group Lost Chances for the Children of Sub-postmasters to support the children of some of the victims of the scandal, said that when her father was made bankrupt by the scandal she was 11 years old and her family had to flee to France. She stopped speaking for two years as a result of the trauma; her childhood was shaped by this injustice. We must not forget the wide-reaching impact of this scandal on family members. There are children, spouses, parents, close friends and neighbours who have not only journeyed with the victims, but suffered themselves and lived out the consequences of this injustice. Seema Misra was jailed on her son’s 10th birthday, while she was pregnant, after being pronounced guilty of stealing £74,000 from the post office she ran—she had been wrongly accused.”
“Member for Orkney and Shetland (Mr Carmichael) made the case for the Scottish Government to introduce legislation in parallel in Scotland. Much work has been done in Scotland and the case for needing to work in parallel, in lockstep, to ensure that there are provisions in Scotland has been made. The hon. Member for North Down (Stephen Farry) spoke about prosecutions that should never have taken place. Once again, he made the case for Northern Ireland’s inclusion and for avoiding delay. We have heard many powerful testimonies from victims who have said that they lost decades of their lives to this scandal.”
“Although that is outside the scope of this Bill, the Minister and others need to ensure that Fujitsu pays for what was caused by its technological failures. The right hon. Member for East Antrim (Sammy Wilson) made a powerful case for those whose appeals have been rejected, and he argued that their cases need to be reconsidered. I know that the Minister has responded and will look at those issues closely. The right hon. Member also made the point about territorial scope, reinforcing the point about the need for Northern Ireland to be included in the Bill. The point about the 12-week consultation has been made consistently, as it means that the 27 or 30 Northern Irish cases will face huge delays. That means further suffering, so it is important for the Government to consider including Northern Ireland, as we have called for. The right hon.”
“Member for North Norfolk (Duncan Baker) spoke powerfully about his career as a sub-postmaster. He brings insight to this debate and the campaign, and he reflected on how he has supported his constituent who has faced trauma, and how he has drawn those lessons into the Minister’s work. I was struck by the way in which he reflected on the wider issues. The hon. Gentleman said that work is needed on the Post Office’s culture in tackling wider systemic issues, and he said that the Post Office is “losing its soul”. As we look to the future, I hope the Government will consider how we make the necessary reforms so that the Post Office is fit for purpose. He rightly said that Fujitsu needs to be held accountable, and that it should pay compensation.”
“Member for Motherwell and Wishaw (Marion Fellows) has been a tireless advocate and campaigner for justice for sub-postmasters, and she rightly highlighted the need to continue our laser-sharp focus on supporting victims. She and others in her party relayed, once again, the concern that Scotland has been left out of the Bill. The hon. Member for Sutton and Cheam (Paul Scully) spoke powerfully about his time as postal affairs Minister. As he is standing down, I commend him for his work in the Department and for his wider cross-party work on a number of issues, including Myanmar with me and many other colleagues. We wish him well in his future endeavours. Like others, he raised the need to learn lessons and to ensure that, when we say that scandals of this scale must never happen again, we truly ensure that they never happen again. The hon.”
“Friend the Member for North Durham (Mr Jones) raised important concerns about the potential limitations of setting deadlines for paying compensation. While ensuring the proper handling of complex cases, I hope the Government will take those points into consideration. My right hon. Friend also raised important points about the need for the judiciary and the Government to learn broader lessons from this scandal so that they can be applied to other scandals, a number of which have been mentioned in the debate, including the contaminated blood scandal and the Windrush scandal. It is encouraging to see such eagerness to reflect and learn so that things do not have to go this far before being addressed. The hon.”
“Their exclusion will sadly only delay the exoneration of victims in Northern Ireland all the more, so I hope the Minister will seriously consider this decision and what can be done further, and take on board the points that have been made by hon. Members including my hon. Friend the shadow Business Secretary. We have heard many powerful contributions in today’s debate, and there is broad agreement on the Bill’s necessity. The right hon. Member for Haltemprice and Howden (Sir David Davis) highlighted his misgivings, and he described the Bill as representing “the best of a bad job.” Of course, he extended his support and highlighted the Bill’s unprecedented nature. My right hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Hodge Hill (Liam Byrne) made the case for speed in granting compensation. My right hon.”
“The legal solution of this Bill is a wholly exceptional and isolated case, where these necessary actions will be taken to match a miscarriage of justice unprecedented in both scale and impact. As the shadow Business Secretary, my hon. Friend the Member for Stalybridge and Hyde (Jonathan Reynolds), has made clear, an incoming Labour Government would never use this kind of action again. I echo the comments on the territorial scope of today’s Bill and restate that the Labour party supports the calls to extend the provisions of the Bill to the cases in Northern Ireland. Every party in Northern Ireland and every Minister in the new Assembly is calling for their inclusion in the Bill.”
“This is in no way a criticism; it is a recognition of the fact that certain scandals have needed that wider attention from the media, from programmes and documentaries, before attention is received. But we are where we are, and it is encouraging to see the steps that have been taken. This Bill will quash the convictions of the sub-postmasters and others who worked in the Post Office branches who suffered as a result of the Horizon scandal. As has already been said, and I further stress, the quashing of these convictions must not set a precedent. The Bill undermines a key part of our democracy, the separation of the legislature and judiciary. As has been said earlier, it is a constitutional anomaly. We must understand the weight of this so that such action is never considered again.”
“There have been many Members across the two Houses who have highlighted the injustice suffered by sub-postmasters, and I extend the Opposition’s appreciation for the work they have done and for the cross-party nature of the campaigning that has gone on thus far. I think we can all agree that the influence of the ITV drama “Mr Bates vs the Post Office” has been very significant in this campaign. The Minister has done a huge amount of work, but there is no denying that that programme has brought to the attention of the wider public the scandal that has affected so many sub-postmasters. However, it should not have taken the release of that drama to get to where we are today.”
“This Bill marks an important victory for sub-postmasters, and I pay tribute to their bravery and perseverance in the face of so much suffering and adversity. They have had so much taken from them, and yet they have kept fighting. This is truly remarkable, and it is wonderful to hear the tributes that have been paid by so many across the House and also across our country. I pay tribute to my right hon. Friend the Member for North Durham (Mr Jones) for all his work fighting on behalf of sub-postmasters, and to Lord Arbuthnot for his years of work on tackling this injustice. I also thank the Minister for postal affairs, the Under-Secretary of State for Business and Trade, the hon. Member for Thirsk and Malton (Kevin Hollinrake), for all his work, from the Back Benches as well as from the Front Bench.”
“This scandal has been defined at every turn by an abuse of power, disregard for sub-postmasters’ lives, the passing of blame and perpetual delay. This Bill is an important step forward in addressing the greatest miscarriages of justice in our country. It will mean that hundreds of innocent victims will have their rightful innocence returned to them. However, this is just one of a number of actions that need to be taken to make amends and to correct this terrible injustice. We need to see convictions quashed, compensation delivered urgently and justice sought from the independent inquiry. Along with other colleagues, I pay tribute to Alan Bates and the many sub-postmasters who have campaigned and worked tirelessly to see justice.”
“We are now over two decades into this scandal, with the victims still suffering the ongoing consequences of this injustice: unjust prison sentences, bankruptcy, ostracisation from communities, family breakdown and homelessness. Tragically, as we have heard, this scandal has led to some people taking their lives. According to the Post Office Horizon IT inquiry, at least 60 sub-postmasters had died without seeing justice or receiving compensation as of 10 August 2023, and at least four had taken their own lives. All our thoughts continue to be with their families. This scandal has been a seismic tragedy at every stage. The mental toll and stress that victims have faced is beyond what many of us can begin to comprehend.”
“I would be grateful if the Minister clarified the timeline for that report and when we can expect an announcement on the requirement to include payment performance data in annual reports.”
“I would be grateful if the Minister clarified what steps will be taken to protect and empower small businesses in the negotiation of fairer terms with big businesses. I know that the Minister for small business is looking into those issues. Ministers are still waiting for the outcome of the ongoing Financial Reporting Council review on non-financial reporting to see if payment performance data should be a requirement in businesses’ annual reports. I urge the Government to ensure that that requirement is included to increase transparency in the business community, to ensure that businesses prioritise prompt payments and consistently focus on good performance, and to achieve a culture change in the business community to tackle late payment.”
“We will not stand in the way of measures that will help businesses to grow, scale up and invest. However, it has taken a very long time for the Government to tackle this deep-seated problem, so I hope this is the beginning of the rapid action that is needed to ensure that we prevent small and medium-sized businesses from suffering from the scourge of late payment. There are stark power imbalances between small and big businesses. These reforms and the increased transparency will go some way to tackling that gap, but as the impact assessment shows, the risk remains that power imbalances will continue to limit suppliers’ capacity to negotiate fairer terms. Transparency is only one element of the negotiation, and wider issues will remain in certain sectors.”
“Late payments are crippling businesses and therefore limiting crucial growth in our economy. They impact on businesses of all sizes, but particularly on small businesses and microbusinesses; such businesses are especially exposed to liquidity problems when they do not receive payments on time, which then limits their ability to invest in future growth. Research from Barclays shows that businesses in the UK are more concerned about the impact of late payments on their business growth than businesses in any other economy in Europe. Two in every five SME owners say that their mental wellbeing has suffered as a result of late payments, and over a third have had sleepless nights. I welcome these amendments to the 2017 regulations, as they are a positive step in the right direction.”
“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Stringer. Late payments are a scourge on small businesses. At any time, UK small businesses are waiting for over £20 billion worth of overdue invoices. As the Minister has pointed out, that is a huge challenge. Research by Smart Data Foundry using Sage accounting data found that in 2021 a typical small business was owed approximately £22,000 in late payments. Larger firms failing to pay on time denies businesses in their supply chains the valuable cash that they need to pay staff, buy materials and deliver on future orders. As the Minister said, 50,000 businesses go under every year in the UK because of hold-ups in their cash flow. The eye-watering increases in rent, energy bills and suppliers’ costs make the need to take strong action on late payments more urgent than ever.”
“Can you offer advice, Mr Speaker, on whether and when the Leader of the House can come to the House to set the record straight?”
“On a point of order, Mr Speaker. On Thursday 14 March, during business questions, in response to a question from the hon. Member for Colne Valley (Jason McCartney) about council spending, the Leader of the House said that Labour had a “legacy” of “vote-rigging” in Tower Hamlets. That is a false claim. I wonder if the right hon. Lady got her parties confused, as there was a widely reported case in 2015 in which the Election Commission and Richard Mawrey voided the mayoral election of 2014 under the Representation of the People Act 1983 on the grounds of corrupt and illegal practices, but that related to the activities of a party named Tower Hamlets First, and had nothing to do with Tower Hamlets Labour party or the national Labour party.”
“My hon. Friend will be aware of the thousands of asylum seekers who are being dispersed up and down the country, with very little support given to local services. While the Government are obsessing over gimmicks, they are not dealing with the real problems in local communities and supporting those communities to host the people they are dispersing up and down the country. This crisis continues, and the Government need to get a grip on it.”
“In my constituency I have met one family in a similar situation. The constituent’s husband had been killed in Afghanistan, but the family were still in limbo because of the delay in decision making. Is my hon. Friend aware that Pakistan is now forcing Afghan asylum seekers back to Afghanistan? There are tens of thousands of people in that situation, some of whom worked to support our forces during the war in Afghanistan.”
“Compared with criminal prosecution, we recognise that civil financial penalties provide a less costly and time-consuming process to hold people to account and to punish wrongdoing. I am conscious that, when the 2023 Act was going through Parliament, this change in the implementation of penalties sparked some debate. However, we are content to support these regulations. I have one question for the Minister about the support being provided to Companies House. Could he provide some assurances that it is getting the back-up and resources to make sure that it can fulfil its very important role? I thank everyone for their time in helping to implement these regulations. I know we all want to achieve the shared goal of improving the effectiveness of the way that we tackle and punish economic crime.”
“As such, we are content to support the regulations. I turn to the financial penalty regulations, which will allow the registrar to impose fines on a person if satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that they have committed misconduct, as opposed to resorting to penalties via the criminal justice system. Thus far, the only civil penalty regime operated by Companies House is the late filing penalty regime. In that situation, a company faces an automatic penalty if it fails to submit its accounts within the designated timeframe. This new regime will operate in conjunction with potential criminal sanctions and will allow the registrar to decide whether to pursue a pathway of financial penalty or criminal sanction.”
“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Vaz. I start by thanking the Minister for outlining the case for these regulations. I am sure those colleagues who worked long and hard on the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 welcome its implementation and the ambition to stamp out economic crime. I begin with the consequential, supplementary and incidental provisions instrument. This technical instrument will ensure that company law applies coherently by making amendments to other primary and secondary legislation and ensuring that the law operates effectively and consistently for all registrable business entities. It will help strengthen the role of Companies House. It is not forecast to have a material impact and amends various existing laws to enact the 2023 Act, effectively tidying up existing legislation.”
“I thank the Minister for advance sight of his statement. Before I respond to it, I would like to put on the record my deep disappointment at the Minister’s comments this morning on “BBC Breakfast”. He failed to categorically condemn the Tory party donor Frank Hester’s horrific and racist remarks about the right hon. Member for Hackney North and Stoke Newington (Ms Abbott). Despite No. 10 finally, after much delay, describing the remarks as “racist and wrong”, the Minister appeared to contradict that position this morning.”
“Given the recent chaos in the Post Office’s leadership, we welcome the decision to take the Post Office out of the redress process. As the Minister said, redress must have independent oversight. The Post Office is in disarray, and we need focus and efficiency in ensuring that compensation is paid to the sub-postmasters as soon as possible. Financial redress alone cannot come close to repaying sub-postmasters for their suffering, though it is so important that we get it right. The very least the Government can do is ensure that sub-postmasters receive fair compensation and exoneration as soon as possible. There are those impacted by the scandal who have sadly passed away, and did not live to see their innocence proven or to receive the compensation that they deserved.”
“I am sure that we can all agree that they have waited long enough, and the delays are causing further financial distress and suffering. We note the Business and Trade Committee’s recommendation that there be a legally binding timeframe for the period between an offer being first tabled and a settlement being reached. If those legally binding targets are not adopted, what assurances can the Minister give that he will meet his target of ensuring that all compensation is out of the door by the end of the year? What mechanisms will he put in place to ensure that there are no further delays? I know that he is committed to ensuring that there are no further delays, but sub-postmasters will want to know that this will actually happen.”
“First, I will address the territorial scope of the legislation, which currently applies only to England and Wales, even though the Post Office is not devolved, and the Horizon system and the impacts of the scandal are UK-wide. Approximately 30 cases need overturning in Scotland and Northern Ireland, but a series of outstanding questions remain as to when sub-postmasters in Scotland and particularly Northern Ireland will receive justice and compensation. I welcome the Minister’s assurance that there will be regular dialogue with the devolved Administrations, but I would be grateful if he provided more detail on how that will work in practice, given the different legal processes. As we know, 80% of the redress budget is yet to be paid out. There remains considerable uncertainty about when sub-postmasters will receive their compensation.”
“Without their bravery and perseverance, the campaign would not be where it is today. I also pay tribute to my right hon. Friend the Member for North Durham (Mr Jones) for all his work, to Lord Arbuthnot for his campaigning on this issue for many years, to others in this House and the other House, and to members of the Business and Trade Committee and its Chair, my right hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Hodge Hill (Liam Byrne). We of course welcome the legislation that is being laid before Parliament today, but before giving a full verdict on it, we will need to properly scrutinise the details and analyse its potential impacts. In the first instance, the legislation leaves a series of outstanding issues, and the question of when justice and compensation will be delivered, and to whom.”
“I will move on. I simply hope that the Minister will reflect on the reversal of the statement he gave this morning, in which he took the position that he would take a donation from that donor. I hope he reflects on the impact that the issue is having on many of us. I turn to today’s crucial statement. The Horizon scandal is truly shocking, and is one of the most devastating miscarriages of justice in British history. The scandal has brought devastation to the lives of hundreds of falsely convicted sub-postmasters. Over 20 years on, they and their families still suffer from the consequences and the trauma of all that they have been put through. I pay tribute to them for their determination in pursuing justice, and to Alan Bates and the sub-postmasters who pioneered the campaign and worked tirelessly to seek justice.”
“We have seen none of that. We have seen no vision for the future—for renewing our economy and our society. Those are some of the things that we could, and would, deliver if we had the privilege of getting into Government. It is time for change. It is time to end the misery and destruction being caused by this Government. It is time for a change in Government.”
“We could have had a sustainable programme for supporting the small and medium-sized businesses that power our economy—99% of our businesses are in that sector. They could be supported much more to grow our economy. We could have seen much more support for those in the homebuilding industry by reforming the planning system. We could have had more investment in green industries and generating green jobs; a new national wealth fund to unlock billions in private investment; a skills revolution in the form of setting up new technical excellence colleges; and investment in the younger generation, and their skills, education and early years. We could have seen a shift in making work pay, with a genuine living wage, banning zero-hours contract and ending fire and rehire. Those are some of the things that the country desperately needs.”
“We have seen an endless queue of Chancellors and Prime Ministers, one after another, experimenting on our country and letting people down. Political and economic instability is causing huge distress to people in our country. What do they have to show for it? A cost of living crisis, often made in Downing Street, and a sticking- plaster Budget designed to help the Conservative party to remain in power. People can see right through it; they will not be fooled by what has been provided. We need a serious Budget for productivity and growth—no more wasting opportunities and people’s talent. We need a Government focused on national renewal, and an economic strategy for growth, which we did not get yesterday.”
“I could go on, but I appreciate that others want to speak. The question is whether people feel better off than they did in 2010 when the Conservative party came into government. The answer is no, because they are working longer hours and working harder. After austerity, which damaged our public services, and after the mini-Budget crisis, which crashed our economy and cost £60 billion to begin with, along with mortgage increases, food price hikes and much else, people are not better off. Of course, we have not mentioned partygate, the abuse of power, the billions wasted in personal protective equipment contracts, and the money wasted in fraud. The billions that we could have used to support people instead went to waste, and in particular cases went into corruption, which has not been addressed.”